...such as steps or accurately, knowing when I've stood, flights of stairs, etc...
i hear you.
for steps i just set all apps that count/reflect steps to always use the same number of steps that are found in the apple Health app. in order to have all step related apps use the same info and consistently measure performance across all apps and over time.
for flights of stairs, however, i am struggling to understand where its getting its info.
when i take my iPhone with me, and i am walking up hills or hilly streets, the iPhone reports, for example, 12, but the watch reports only 3. the apple Health app itself uses the iPhone recorded flight count (if of course i take it with me); but of course uses only the watch recorded flight count (if i dont take my iPhone with me).
when i actually calculate the approximate number of meters of elevation change that i have walked the number of meters that i figure is always about the same number of meters in altitude that the watch itself reports. but the number of equivalent flights the watch reports does not equal the international standard (which is the same standard that apple itself reports as being used) of 1 flight of stairs being equal to 3 meters of elevation.
apple reports a way to calibrate between the watch and the iPhone, which i have tried, but it doesn't fix this problem.
for standing, i needed to learn how the watch thinks. when i get out bed in the morning it always picks up that as having stood. but it seems as the day goes on, i need to actually move around more for it to record as a standing hour. it of course never counts only just standing as "standing"; i always need to actually move around quite a bit before it records as having stood, most typically needing some arm movements while moving around.
on the issue of a big software update for the upcoming watchOS 10, im looking forward to it. should be good.